A sudden frenzied rapping at her window woke Fii from her slumber. Groggy and disoriented, she slid the glass pane open, letting in a rush of night air. Quinn stood below in the street, face red and glistening from the exertion.
"What the hell..." Fii croaked tiredly. She rubbed her eyes to clear them. "Quinn?"
He waved impatiently. "I have something to tell you! Come out." He shot an uneasy look toward the street, but his urgency didn't waver. "This is serious."
Fii yawned and stretched languidly. "Okay, okay."
She climbed down and stood in front of him.
"What's with the drama?" she inquired sleepily.
"Trouble." Quinn paused a beat, catching his breath before continuing. "Just went out to do maintenance and fixed a broken zip line. About twenty minutes ago." Another pause as he caught his breath and ran a hand through his damp hair. "Spotted a small convoy approaching the slums—about a hundred guys or so. Military-type with vehicles. No markings or any identifying insignia."
Fii raised a brow questioningly. "So? They're probably just heading to the metropolis. What's so strange about that?"
He shook his head adamantly. "No. They started picking fights with some gangs near the border. Ran their vehicles into groups and started gunning them down. Most everyone ran scared." Quinn paused again and his expression turned grim. "I...saw some Adrenomancers in their group."
Fii inhaled sharply. Her sleepiness vanished immediately. "Wait—what?! You saw 'em? Are you sure?"
"Yeah." His eyes grew distant at the memory. "I'm sure. From what Virgil told me, I recognized their gear right away. Harnesses with tubes and stuff."
Her mind raced as she digested this news. More Adrenomancers? And they're with a hundred soldiers?
"How many of 'em did you see?" Fii asked, her stomach sinking as he responded.
"At least a dozen, but that's just from one of the squads I saw There's probably more...a lot more, mixed in with probably mercs."
Fii shivered despite the heat.
That many? To go after something in the slums? Were they still after her? No way...right? Maybe that Mad Chemist guy had a bone to pick with one of the bigger gangs. Still...this was getting a little over the top. And this was the slums they were talking about—the last place someone would waste a ton of money and resources attacking.
"Is that why you came straight here?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, I had a bad feeling they might be looking for you or Virgil."
"Crap...you're probably right." Fii squeezed her eyes shut. She felt like a bullet was lodged somewhere in her body. The last thing she needed was more trouble from outside. Why the hell can't I just catch a break? "Okay. Let's go let Virgil know."
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A hand grasped his shoulder and gently shook him awake.
Virgil awoke with a start and instinctively grabbed for his revolver. He swept it upward and had it leveled at his attacker before fully opening his eyes.
Fii gasped and leaped back with her hands raised. "Woah, relax! It's me!"
"Fii..." Virgil blinked away the sleep from his eyes. "What do you want?"
He sat up and put his gun aside. Another figure stood behind her—Quinn.
What the hell were these two doing sneaking into his room at this godforsaken hour? They'd better have a good reason. Otherwise they'd be tasting his fists. He cast a wary glance toward them, giving each of them a good once-over. They seemed alert and a tad spooked. Fii's expression seemed unusually tense. It couldn't be good news.
"What happened?" Virgil asked gruffly. He wished he could grab a drink or a smoke. Goddammit.
"Quinn's spotted a bunch of Adrenomancers entering the slums." She took a deep breath before adding quietly. "Like...a LOT more."
"Saw 'em about an hour ago. There were six APCs and ten Humvees rolling in from the Badlands," Quinn added. "Plus squads on foot. I don't know if they were all Adrenomancers, but the dozen I saw had those harnesses on."
Virgil could only stare incredulously as the words sunk in. Did he hear that right? Were these two trying to prank him right now?
No. They wouldn't be that stupid to pull a stunt like that. Which meant...shit.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning loudly. This was some news to wake up to.
"Where are they now?" Virgil demanded. He hurriedly buckled his revolvers around his thighs and tied his holster.
Quinn spoke up. "Southeast end. Moving north. Seems like they're focused on the gangs near the outskirts. No way they're just passing through. They're here for a reason."
"Isn't the Ironclad Legion's turf near there?" Fii mused out loud. "Maybe they're going to try and settle a score with 'Anvil' Anderson's gang?"
Salvatore didn't settle scores that way. Or at least, he wouldn't have had his group be seen going into battle this openly without a large sum of money exchanged. Aside from trying to establish a facility for his Shiver operations, and placing a bounty on Fii's capture, what the hell else would Salvatore be after?
He must have lost his mind or gotten desperate if he had ordered his Adrenomancers to conduct a raid in the slums. He was practically throwing away his resources. Whatever he was doing had to be critical enough for him to take such a gamble. Something's not adding up.
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But the bigger picture didn't matter much to him right now. He needed to consider immediate solutions. They needed to get a handle on the situation. Now.
"Virgil?" Fii peered at him in concern.
"I'm thinking." Virgil breathed deeply and cracked his neck. He began mentally calculating their options as he finished gearing up. "For starters, Fii...suit up and get ready to head out. Quinn, get a hold of Kenzo and tell him what's going on. After that, get some ClipRunners to spread the word to the other gangs. Got that? Now git!"
"Got it!" Quinn darted from the room.
"Right!" Fii dashed out right behind him.
"Sonofabitch," Virgil mumbled under his breath.
The metropolis government wouldn't care enough to get involved, but if the collateral damage started piling up, Supers might start pouring out to get a slice of the action—and that would cause even more of a mess.
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Fii finished donning her cyber-helmet and performed a quick systems check. Her vitals readout returned all-normal and the commlink's indicator displayed a solid green. Her skates showed a full charge.
A knock on her door startled her. Edith opened the door a second later, sporting her typical lab coat and eyeglasses. For someone in the middle of the night, she didn't appear groggy in the least.
"Going out?" Edith asked. "You didn't mention anything about doing a patrol tonight. Has something happened?"
Fii explained the situation to the best of her abilities. Her explanation, though, only deepened Edith's frown.
"Edith?"
She seemed deep in thought as if turning the information around in her head. Something was bothering her.
"Edith?" Fii prompted again. "Did you get all that?"
"Huh? Yeah, I heard you." She blinked, looking distracted. "I guess I'll head back to my office and get on the comms. I'll deploy my drones to track their movements. You talked to Virgil already, right?"
Fii nodded. "He told me to get ready. I'm about to head out now."
Edith nodded. She took a breath before giving Fii a serious look.
"Take care of yourself out there. Remember, don't hold back when fighting those Adrenomancers." She gave a faint smile. "Show 'em who's boss. And...stay safe."
Fii gave a thumbs-up in response. "Yes, ma'am!"
She thought Edith would leave and return to her lab. Instead, she hesitated as if she wanted to add more. Finally, she exhaled deeply and patted Fii's shoulders. With a final nod and smile, she left the room.
Fii found it strange. It wasn't like Edith to worry like that. Why the weird behavior? Weird...
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and exited her room. Time to focus.
As she made her way back to the Vigil, she spotted Virgil coming her way.
He gave her an appraising look. "You ready?"
"Yup. Suit's on and helmet's working. Commlink's showing an okay status. Edith said she's gonna send drones out. Ready whenever you are."
Virgil's expression shifted as he grimaced. He took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaled the smoke slowly, and flicked the butt away. He probably needed to take his mind off something. "Let's roll."
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Edith trudged back to her lab and sank onto her chair. She slumped back, taking a few steadying breaths. The entire ordeal had rattled her nerves.
She didn't think her bait would have worked. It was a long shot at best. But based on the scale and effort of this assault, it was more likely than not that Salvatore intended to find and capture her to pry the secrets of her research from her. She'd inadvertently lured a great big nest of hornets.
Inadvertently? No. I wanted this. It was always the plan to tip his hand.
She smiled grimly to herself. The price for her actions was steep. And this wasn't over yet. She wasn't out of danger. There was no guarantee he didn't send all this to kill her. If he was as smart and ambitious as she guessed he was, he would want to keep her alive to help him pursue his agenda.
The main variables were Fii and Virgil. Fii should be powerful enough to rescue her safely, but Virgil doesn't know the whole truth about Fii's origin as a metahuman. How would he react if the secret came to light? And how would she tell him? All Edith knew for sure was that a single misstep could easily mean death. And not just hers.
However, the chance to acquire all of Salvatore's research and blueprint on his Adrenomancer creation process was too great. If Edith could obtain that, it would help make her one step closer to perfecting her own methods. An opportunity like this might not come around for a very long time.
Maybe. Maybe not. I made a plan to see this through. I will continue to follow through with it.
Edith began typing on her terminal and uploaded a set of commands to a cloud server. She instructed a series of drones to power themselves on and perform a search grid in the slums. Given the size and scope of this operation, Edith had plenty of drones to spare. At the end of the day, it was a fraction of her investment and what was needed.
"Dr. Weiss," Helix's voice echoed inside the lab.
"What is it, Helix?" She swiped the screen on her desk monitor to view the incoming data from the drones. A map overlay of the slums appeared with red dots mapping the estimated movement and routes of the intruding forces.
"I must remind you one last time that this plan is unwise and highly dangerous," Helix cautioned.
"Your opinion is duly noted and rejected," Edith snapped. "This plan was carefully considered. I understand the risk, but the benefits greatly outweigh the dangers."
"Yes," Helix remarked. "Your intentions are certainly beneficial to your project, but not beneficial toward yourself."
Edith let out a quiet snort. "Benefits? And this doesn't benefit me?"
"Gaining Salvatore's research would accelerate your own timeline. However, he may not have the complete procedure," Helix reminded. "In any case, Salvatore's likely intentions include torture and brainwashing in order to gain control over your person."
"Thanks for reminding me again."
"In this eventuality, what of your test subject?"
"She's ready," Edith said confidently. "If all goes well, she will retrieve me and defeat them all."
Helix's tone shifted. "Are you truly confident in her capability and resolve?"
"You're overthinking this."
"If I were human, would you attribute this to mere bias or objective analysis?"
She pondered the question for a moment. Helix, while a clever intelligence, rarely deviated from cold logic. Any show of emotional capability would certainly come at great cost. Its creation and training required an exorbitant amount of funding and time. To waste this effort by merely arguing emotions would have been unthinkable.
Perhaps Edith might have reconsidered a better alternative had there been any other choice. But that was a hypothetical, an absurd notion that she rejected the moment she had formulated her plan. She would never change her mind. No amount of objectivity would convince her otherwise.
"Human error isn't what will get us killed tonight."
"Regardless—"
Edith sighed. "Yes. I believe in her," she said quietly.
The irony in her answer wasn't lost on her. Edith was far from being the most ideal instructor. Fii had come a long way since they had begun working together, but her talents were still far from tapped. And she was far from ready.
Her achievements so far were beyond Edith's wildest expectations. Still, could a little over half a year of experience and training be enough for Fii to tackle this disaster on her own? There was no guarantee. Hell, nothing about her current position guaranteed success—even with Virgil's help.
"Very well." Helix's words carried finality to them. "What are your orders?"
Edith cast her reservations and misgivings aside. She inhaled a long, slow breath before answering. "Let's do everything we can on our end to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible." She gave a grim chuckle. "Here's hoping she can hold her own out there."